Matches to Make After UFC on FX 8

Vitor Belfort will likely get another title shot. | Josh
Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Luke
Rockhold will have to wait for his moment in the Ultimate
Fighting Championship sun. Vitor
Belfort’s left foot blotted it out.

Belfort knocked out the former Strikeforce middleweight champion
with an exquisite spinning heel kick and follow-up punches on the
ground in the UFC on FX 8 main event on Saturday at the Arena
Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil. The 36-year-old Brazilian drew
the curtain on Rockhold 2:32 into round one, as he won for the
ninth time in 11 appearances with an early frontrunner for
“Knockout of the Year.”

Rockhold expected speed, power and precision from more traditional
strikes, Belfort’s straight left chief among them. However, the
kick, perfectly measured and accurately applied, came out of left
field, and it did the job. Caught with his hands low, Rockhold
absorbed the blow and fell to the canvas in a still-conscious
state. He could not weather the swarm of punches Belfort levied
against him next.

The win likely moves “The Phenom” back to the front of the line in
terms of middleweight title contenders, with longstanding champion
Anderson
Silva -- the last man to defeat Belfort at 185 pounds -- set to
defend his crown against the undefeated Chris
Weidman at UFC 162 on July 6. Silva has held the championship
since Oct. 14, 2006, defending it a record 10 times.

Rockhold, meanwhile, must patch up the damage and somehow revive
the momentum that accompanied his arrival in the Octagon. The
28-year-old American Kickboxing Academy export saw his nine-fight
winning streak grind to a halt, as he experienced defeat for the
first time in more than five years. Still, Rockhold remains one of
the sport’s most promising young middleweights and would seem a
prime candidate to face the loser of the forthcoming Mark
Munoz-Tim Boetsch
matchup in July.

In the wake of
UFC on FX 8 “Belfort vs. Rockhold,” here are five other
matchups that ought to be made:

Ronaldo
“Jacare” Souza vs. Yushin
Okami: Souza was nothing short of sensational in his
promotional debut, as he choked the consciousness out of “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 alum Chris
Camozzi in the co-headliner. The 33-year-old former Strikeforce
champion has finished his last four opponents, three of them inside
one round, and could move fast within the UFC middleweight
division. Okami last appeared at UFC on Fuel TV 8 in March, when he
captured a split decision from onetime Bellator MMA titleholder
Hector
Lombard at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Only
seven active UFC fighters have more wins inside the Octagon than
Okami’s 13.

Rafael dos
Anjos vs. Donald
Cerrone: Dos Anjos continues to hover on the periphery
of the top 10 at 155 pounds. The 28-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu
black belt posted his fourth straight victory in a unanimous
decision over Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts export Evan Dunham.
Since losing his first two UFC bouts to Jeremy
Stephens and Tyson
Griffin, dos Anjos has quietly compiled an 8-2 mark and
established himself as a player inside the promotion’s deepest
division. Cerrone will return to the cage against former EliteXC
champion K.J. Noons at
UFC
160.

Nik Lentz vs.
Cub
Swanson-Dennis Siver
winner: Lentz has been nothing short of a revelation since
downshifting from 155 pounds. The American Top Team product
improved to 3-0 as a featherweight with a unanimous verdict over
Nova Uniao’s Hacran Dias.
Moreover, Lentz snapped the heralded Dias’ nine-fight winning
streak as a short-notice replacement for “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 5 finalist Manny
Gamburyan. All factors considered, his next call from UFC brass
figures to pair him with a big-ticket player at 145 pounds. Swanson
and Siver will meet in a high-stakes matchup at UFC
162 on July 6.

John
Lineker vs. Jussier da
Silva: Some project Lineker as a future title
contender at 125 pounds, and the 23-year-old Brazilian did nothing
to dispel those notions while dissecting Russian import Azamat
Gashimov with a pair of vicious blows to the body -- one a
kick, the other a punch. Lineker has won 15 of his last 16 fights,
a guillotine choke submission loss to Team Tiger Schulmann’s
Louis
Gaudinot the lone hiccup. Once regarded as the world’s top
flyweight, da Silva was impressive in his own right, as he put his
prodigious grappling skills on display in a unanimous decision over
the underappreciated Chris
Cariaso.